Rich culture, delicious food and stories from Afghanistan

Rice & Pasta

03/27/2014

For many years I hosted an Afghan dinner as an auction item for my daughter’s school fundraiser. I found myself slaving over the meal for many days and at the end there was nothing to show for my hours of labor except for a kitchen full of dirty dishes. After someone mentioned that they wanted to learn how to cook Afghan food, a light bulb went on. Why not do a “Cook Your Own Afghan Feast” auction item? That is exactly what I have done in the past two years and I must say it has been lots of fun sharing the cooking with my guests.

Jeja, my mom and all her friends would be horrified to find out that I have my guests cooking the whole meal. It is against all the rules of Afghan hospitality. So, when I told Jeja about this dinner party, I left out this minor detail. Instead I focused on my mantoo dish, which is a conglomerate of various recipes that I tested over and over until I got just the right flavors. Normally, Jeja is my source for recipes, but she prefers aushak to mantoo and rarely makes this dish. The basic difference between the two dumpling dishes is that the aushak is boiled and served with a meat sauce on top while mantoo is steamed with the meat mixture inside the dumpling. You would think this is not a big deal but the meat is cooked differently in each recipe, which of course makes the dishes taste very different.

I tinkered with this mantoo recipe until it ended up tasting like the dish I was served in in Ghazni, Afghanistan two year ago when a warlord brought dinner for us on the NATO forward operating base (a story that will be revealed in a different post).

My conclusion after various versions of the recipe is that lamb meat is key in getting the best flavors with mantoo. I have said many times that I don’t like lamb but what can I say, it is the only way to go with mantoo.

When I was little girl in Afghanistan, my relatives from Ghazni would have an aushak and mantoo making party in the spring. It was an all day event, we would arrive at Boboa Jan’s house in the early afternoon, our mothers would stuff fresh dough cut into thin square wrapper with various stuffing. They would gossip, laugh and pass the afternoon away. The servants would steam the stuffed dumplings and serve it on a distarkhwan on the floor where we would all gather to feast on these mouth-watering dishes. Maybe it was the memory of those afternoon which inspired me to have my own “Make Your Afghan Feast” party.

In the spirit of Afghan hospitality I suggest you gather a few friends and create your own mantoo making party filled with an afternoon of gossiping, cooking and eating.

Stuffing dumplings is fun with kids

Afghan Meat Dumpling

Mantoo

Sauce:

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 cup dried kidney beans boiled for 20 minutes on high heat but not cooked through

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. diced garlic

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. turmeric

2 cups organic chicken broth

Dumpling:

Steaming pot

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 medium yellow onions diced

1 lb. ground lamb

1 tsp. coriander

2 medium white onions diced

1 cup finely chopped cilantro

1 large package of wonton dough

Yogurt sauce:

½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

½ cup full fat plain yogurt

1 tsp. salt

pinch of garlic powder

Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan on medium-high, and add garlic. Sauté for two minutes until golden. Add all the ingredients of the sauce to the pan, stir well, and bring to a boil. Once the sauce is boiling, turn down the heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for an hour until the beans are soft and the sauce thickens.

In a large frying pan, sauté the diced yellow onions in olive oil. When the onions are golden brown add the lamb and coriander. Mix well; make sure the lamb does not clump together. Cook over medium heat for around 30 minutes. Remove from heat; place the meat in a colander until all the juice is drained. Let it cool.

While the meat is cooling mix the sour cream, yogurt, salt and garlic powder in a bowl. Stir with a fork until creamy. Set aside.

Add the meat, cilantro and the diced white onions in a bowl and mix by hand until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. On a large clean surface, set out as many wonton wrappers as you can.

In each wrapper, place a tablespoon of the meat mixture. To assemble the dumplings, fill a small bowl with water and put it at your workstation.

Dip the tip of your finger in the water. Moisten the edges of the wrapper. The water will serve as glue for the dumpling. Take two opposite edges of the dough and bring them together in the center, use the tip of your finger to firmly press the edges of the dough together to form a tight seal. Nip together the two remaining sides of the wrapper. Repeat until all the wrappers are used.

Use a dab of oil to grease the steamer shelve with the tips of your fingers, this will prevent the mantoo from sticking to the pot.

Place each stuffed mantoo next to each other leaving a little room in between each one. When the water is boiling, place the steaming rack inside the pot, cover and steam each batch for around 7 minutes. Spread 2 tablespoons of the yogurt sauce on the large platter.

Remove the cooked dumplings from the steaming rack and place on the platter. Repeat these steps until all the dumplings are steamed. Arrange the cooked mantoo on the platter in one layer

Spoon the piping hot bean sauce on top of the mantoo. I like to pour some of the yoguft sauce on the finished platter but traditionally the sauce is served separately for each person to add to their own taste.

10/03/2013

An Afghan woman's marriage prospects hinges on her ability to make Palau. So, you can imagine how much thought and effort goes into perfecting the Afghan rice dish. To this day my children and husband tell me that my Palau is not as good as my mom's. Thank goodness Jim didn't test my Palau making skills before he proposed to me over 17 years ago.

Jeja, my mom, makes the best Kabuli Palau in our family. My cousins request this dish when they visit her. Kabuli Palau was created by the upper class families of Kabul who could afford to include caramalized carrots, plump raisins and coveted nuts in their rice.

Over time as people in Afghanistan became wealthier this dish became more common. So, the name was changed from Kabuli Palau to Qabili Palau. The Dari word Qabil - means well accomplished, indicating that only a skilled chef can truely balance the various flavors of this dish.

The most important part of making Qabili Palaus is to keep the rice from breaking while it develops a deep rich brown color in the multi step cooking process. Most people think we use brown rice, let me tell you folks, I had not seen brown rice until I was well into my 20's when I started cooking for myself. The white, long grain rice takes on a rich brown color from the caramalized onions and chicken sauce.

Using unprocessed, long grain white rice is key in having success with this dish. I buy rice from the Afghan grocery market which passes muster with Jeja. I soak the rice in water for at least an hour to plump up the grains but most store bought Basmati rice can't handle the soaking and the two step cooking technique. That is why I left out the soaking in my recipe.

This dish takes me around 1:45 minutes from start to finish. I have integrated short cuts to help save time. I know Jeja would frown upon some of my techniques but I have made sure that the Palau retains the rich flavors of the original recipe.

I hope you too can make the best Kabuli/Qabili Palau from this this updated recipe.

Uncooked raisins, carrots & almonds

Kabuli/Qabili Palau - Afghanistan’s National Dish

4 cups basmati rice

5 skinless chicken legs

5 skinless chicken thighs

3 medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered

½ c plus 2 tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil, divided

5 tsp. salt

1 cup chicken broth

3 large carrots, peeled

1 cup black raisins

½ cup slivered almonds

3 tbsp. sugar

¾ cup water

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 ½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. ground black pepper

12 cups water

2 tbsp. browning sauce such at Kitchen Bouquet (optional)*

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Immerse rice in a bowl of water and drain in a colander. Repeat this step 3 times.

Wash and dry the chicken. Set aside.

Chop the onions in a food processor using the pulse button. Don't puree the onions. You can do this by hand if you prefer.

Choose a sauté pan that is at least a couple inches deep and large enough to fit all the chicken. Pour ½ cup of the oil in the pan and sauté the onions over high heat, stirring quickly, until brown (5-10 minutes). Don't burn them.

The onions take on a deep rich brown color

Add the chicken to the pan and sprinkle with 3 tsp. of the salt. Cook the chicken over medium-high heat for 6 minutes, turning from time to time so all sides turn golden brown. The onion will start to caramelize and turn into a thick sauce.

Add 1/4 cup of the chicken broth, and continue stirring to keep the chicken from burning. Once the liquid has been absorbed, add another 1/4 cup of chicken broth, bring it to a boil, cover with a lid or aluminum foil, and simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce should turn a dark brown. If your sauce does not take on a dark color you can add the Kitchen Bouquet to give it color.

While the chicken is cooking, cut the carrots into long think matchsticks, about 4 inches long and 1/8-inch thick. Make sure that they are not too thin. In a large frying pan add ¾ cups of water and bring to a boil, add the carrots and cook until tender and a deep orange hue, 5 to 7 minutes.

Keep a close eye on this to make sure you do not overcook them. Once the carrots are done, drain any leftover liquid out of the pan. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, raisins, almonds and sugar to the carrots. Stir quickly over medium-high heat and keep stirring for about 3 minutes. The raisins will look plump; the carrots will take on a nice sweet flavor. Remove from heat and package the carrots into a sealed aluminum foil pouch about the size of a small paperback novel.

Cooked carrot, raisins and almond in a pouch

Remove the chicken pieces from the broth and set aside. Stir the cumin, cardamom and black pepper into the broth. Continue to cook on low for 5 minutes to allow it to thicken.

Meanwhile, measure 12 cups of water and the remaining 2 tsp. of salt into a large Dutch oven or pot (see our Palau post for photos) with a fitted lid. Bring it to a boil. Add the rice to the water and boil until it is al dente (nearly cooked, though still slightly crunchy). This will take just a few minutes depending on the rice you use. You will have to taste it to check for doneness. Do not overcook it.

Immediately strain the rice through a colander. Put the rice back into the cooking pot and add the sauce from the chicken. Mix well. Arrange the chicken pieces on top of the rice. Set the aluminum package of carrots on top of the rice. This will keep the carrots warm and deepen the flavors without mixing with the rice yet.

Qabili Palau pot ready to go into the oven

Bake the rice for 15 minutes in 500 degrees then drop the temperature down to 250 degrees. Cook for another 20 minutes.

Arrange the chicken pieces on a large platter, cover with the rice. Sprinkle the carrots, raisins, and almonds on the rice. Serve with a simple salata.

09/26/2013

People always ask me if ingredients for Afghan recipes are hard to find. The answer to this is always a resounding “no”.While there are a small handful of unusual ingredients in Afghan cooking, the great majority of what’s needed can be found in your neighborhood supermarket such as Safeway, Ralph’s, or Whole Foods.Living in the San Francisco Bay Area has many advantages (house prices are not one of them) including accessibility to ethnic grocery stores.However, you can access a large selection of more exotic ingredients online at www.sadaf.com.I have not used this site since I purchase Sadaf brands in my local ethnic market, but I have friends who rely on it for specialty ingredients.

Here is a peek into our pantry with a breakdown of the ingredients most commonly used in Afghan cooking. We hope this will make it fun and easy for you to try our Afghan recipes.

Herbs and Spices

In Afghanistan spices are typically bought in bulk and ground as needed.But as busy moms and home cooks, we buy most spices already ground and packaged.Below is the list of the most commonly used herbs and spices:

Legumes are used as an extender for kebabs and other meat dishes since they are far less expensive than meat.You will find them fried and salted as a snack or coated with sugar to have with tea.

oChick peas

oKidney Beans

oMung Beans

oSplit Peas

oLentils

·The Onion Family

Practically every savory Afghan dish is made with onions in some form.Most common is something called piaz e surkh kada, which is finely minced onion cooked in plenty of oil until deeply browned, lending a rich and mellow flavor to meats and vegetables.Afghans also use the “juice” of the onion, squeezing out the liquid and distributing it in ground meat for kebabs.

oYellow onions

oRed onions

oGandana (similar in appearance to leeks; available in specialty markets.Leeks and/or green onions can be substituted)

oLeeks

oScallions

·Rice

Afghans are very particular about their rice; it is the centerpiece of nearly every meal.Using the right rice and cooking it properly are considered essentials for a good Afghan cook. We recommend the least processed Basmati rice you are able to find.

06/20/2013

Nothing is more important at the Afghan table than the rice.An Afghan woman’s reputation as a good cook can hinge solely on how well she prepares her rice.Indeed, the number of rice dishes served at a particular wedding and the skill with which the hostess executes her palau can be fodder for gossip amongst a group of Afghans.

Palau is serious business in Afghanistan and nobody does it better than Humaira’s mom, who is fondly known by her grandchildren as “Jeja.”No matter how well our palau may be, it’s never quite up to Jeja’s standards.Most important is not to overcook the rice.Each grain should be distinct from the next.Sticky rice just will not do in a good Afghan kitchen.

Afghan cuisine uses short grain and long grain rice. It's very important to buy the best and least processed Basmati rice. Jeja only shops in the Afghan store where she buys rice for her palau. She always has her finger on the pulse of what the latest, best rice in the market is. When I'm shopping for rice I always call her from the store to get her recommendation for the best brand name. If you don't have access to an Afghan, Indian or Iranian store,you can still make a fine pilau. We do find that many brands in American supermarkets are overprocesses and tend to break in the cooking process. This would probably horrify Jeja, but in our test we found even the broken rice quite delicious.

The recipe for Palau may look daunting but it's not difficult. We have tested it many times to simplify it and retain the flavors. There are two methods to cooking long grain rice.

Afghan Rice with Chicken

Palau e Murgh

3 cups basmati rice

5 skinless chicken legs

5 skinless chicken thighs

2 large yellow onions, peeled and quartered

½ cup olive oil or vegetable oil

5 tsp. salt

1 cup chicken broth

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 ½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. ground black pepper

12 cups water

2 tsp. browning sauce such at Kitchen Bouquet (optional)*

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Immerse rice in a bowl of water and drain in a colander.Repeat this step 3 times.

Wash and dry the chicken. Set aside.

Chop the onions in a food processor using the pulse button. Don't puree the onions.Choose a sauté pan that is at least a couple inches deep and large enough to fit all chicken.Pour the oil in the pan and saute the onions over high heat, stirring qucikly, until brown (5-10 minutes). Don't burn the onion.

Add the chicken to the pan and sprinkle with 3 tsp. of the salt. Cook the chicken over medium-high or high heat for 6 minutes, turning from time to time so all sides turn golden brown.The onion will start to caramalize and turn into a thick sauce. Add 1/4 cup of the chicken broth, and continue stirring to keep the chicken from burning. Once that liquid dries add another 1/4 cup of broth and cook until all the broth is used. This process will take around 20 minutes. Once a thick sauce has formed, bring to a boil, turn the heat to low, cover with a lid or aluminum foil and simmer for 10 minutes.Remove the chicken pieces from the broth and set aside.Stir the cumin, cardamom and black pepper into the broth.Continue to cook on low for 5 minutes to allow it to thicken.

Meanwhile, measure 12 cups of water and the remaining 2 tsp. of salt into a large dutch oven or pot with a fitted lid.Bring it to a boil.Add the rice to the water and boil until it is nearly cooked, though still slightly crunchy.This will take just a few minutes depending on the rice you use. You will have to taste it to check for doneness.Do not overcook it.Immediately strain the rice through a colander.Put the rice back into its cooking pot and add the broth.Mix well.Arrange the chicken pieces on top of the rice.Cover the pot with foil and then with a lid.

Bake the rice for 15 minutes at 500 and drop the temperature down to 250 degrees.Cook for another 20 minutes.

Arrange the chicken pieces on a large platter and cover with the rice.Serve with a simple salad and plain yogurt.

Chicken just as it was added to the browned onions in the saute pan

Chicken after 30 minutes of cooking with the caramalized onions, the brown color is achieved by browning the onions to the right color

This pan is ready to go in the oven to bake or in Dari it would be "Dam kadan"

Humaira's rice pot. You will find one of these in every Afghan's home in the United States.

01/10/2013

In 2011 we asked you to vote for our Aushak recipe which we entered in a dumpling contest. Thanks to you and all of our friends around the world we won the dumpling contest which landed our recipe in the newly published, The FOOD52 Cookbook, Volume 2, a crowdsourced and curated cookbook.

This cookbook contains 75 recipes, beautiful photos, scrumptious seasonal recipes and of course our world famous Aushak recipe on page 194, just in case you were wondering.

The book is an amalgamation of recipes, ideas, and techniques collected by Amanda Hessler (formerly NY Times food writer) and Merrill Stubbs from their very popular food blog, Food52. Both ladies are accomplished cooks and food writers who wanted to give people from all walks of life a way to exchange their ideas and to celebrate each other’s talents so they started this blog which has skyrocketed in popularity.

Here is what some of their community said about the Aushak recipe:

"This was amazing. And I added some of the leftover garlic yogurt to my scrambled eggs this morning. Some of the best scrambled eggs I've ever made!"

Brilliant, I have not thought of adding yogurt to eggs but now I will have to give this a try.

" That's a wonderful recipe. I think it would make a great bento box lunch item, packing the sauce in the little compartments and the dumplings and meat in the main container for rewarming."

Ok, I don't own a bento box but perhaps I should get one.

Get out of your cooking rut, get yourself a copy of this book and try their great seasonal recipes in 2013. I love to blog but some how I get a little extra satisfaction from seeing my name in print.

Slowly we are making Afghan food known around the world and we have you to thank for it.

04/27/2011

Good new! The recipe for Aushak we submitted to the Food52 recipe contest a few weeks ago was the winner in the dumplings category last week. We're thrilled because, well, it's always fun to win. But also because it's yet another way to broaden awareness about Afghan cooking and how wonderful it is. Thank you to all of those who voted for us.

If you are unfamiliar with it, Food52.com, it's a blog started by New York Times food writer Amanda Hesser, which hosts weekly recipe contests. All winning recipes (including ours) will be featured in a cookbook. We also walk with a pile of kitchen-related prizes.

If you have yet to make Aushak, which are Afghan dumplings with Lamb Kofta and Yogurt Sauce, there is a reason the dish won the contest. It's delicious. The Food52 site did a great job putting together a step-by-step slide show of how to make it. You can find it here.

If you want to go it alone, here is the recipe:

Aushak

4 tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. ground lamb

1 cup tomato sauce

1 ½ tsp. paprika

1 ½ tsp. ground coriander

3 teaspoons Kosher salt, divided

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 lb. green onions, washed, stems removed

½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1 package won ton wrappers

1 tsp. vinegar

1 cup plain yogurt

½ teaspoon ground dried garlic

1 tbsp. dried mint

Saute the onion over medium heat in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil until tender and translucent. Add the garlic and sauté another minute. Add the lamb and sauté until cooked through, breaking it up like finely minced taco meat. Add the tomato sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, the paprika, coriander and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring regularly for 20 minutes.

While the meat is cooking, finely chop the green onions (use the entire onion). A Cuisinart is useful for this step. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the green onions, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the crushed red pepper. Turn heat to low and sauté until tender, 10 minutes.

To assemble the dumplings, fill a small bowl with water and put it at your work station. Set a won ton wrapper on your work surface and dip the tip of your finger in the water. Moisten the edges along two connecting sides of the wrapper. The water will serve as glue for the dumpling. Put about a teaspoon of green onions in the center of the wrapper. Fold the dough in half over the green onion in the shape of a triangle. Use the tip of your finger to firmly press the edges of the dough together to form a tight seal. Next, lift the two longest points of the triangle and press them together, creating a little circle over the dumpling. It will look like a fancy napkin fold.

While you are assembling the dumplings, bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil. Add the vinegar. Once all of the dumplings are done, immerse them in the water and boil according to directions on the won ton package (about 4 minutes). While the dumplings are boiling, quickly stir together the yogurt with the garlic and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt.

Gingerly scoop the cooked dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon, a few at a time, and arrange on a large platter. Spoon the yogurt over the dumplings and the ground meat on top of that. Sprinkle with dried mint and serve immediately.

04/13/2011

Last week when I was in Kabul, I was staying in a guest house located in the Shar e Now (new city) district which used to be a very high-end neighborhood with paved roads, fancy shops. It was where foreigners would hang out along with wealthy modern Afghans. Today the only thing it has in common with its glorious past is that the foreigners are still there, only mostly congregating in offices, guest houses and restaurants, making the district one of the most dangerous in Kabul eventhough it's in the "green zone". The roads now have major pot holes, the sidewalks are crumbling, the traffic is unbearable and every building is draped in barbed wire and features a guard’s station with armed guards for protection.

Girls after school on the streets of shar e now

My guest house, The International Club, had four guards outside the compound, and four inside. Every person who was not a guest was thoroughly searched, especially Afghans in traditional attire. In the sixties and seventies, the glory days of Afghanistan, The International Club was where the rich Afghans played tennis (the courts still there), swam in the indoor lap pool and gathered for networking and socializing. Sadly, today, the only Afghans allowed in were the waiters, cleaning staff and guards.

Another crumbling wall in shar e now

The fact that I, an Afghan, stayed there as a guest, brought a certain level of excitement to the hotel. All of the staff and the guards were particularly kind to me, going out of their way to be helpful. They were constantly trying to figure out if I am some kind of a celebrity or an influential person by shyly asking me subtle questions. The manager even refused to take my money when I tried to purchase a necklace from their stash of local handicrafts.

The International Club has an expansive menu featuring dozens of items -- smoothies, pizzas, pastas, and rice dishes – none of which ever seemed to be available when ordered. What surprised me most was that they had no Afghan food on the menu. I stand corrected, they did have Qabili Palau, but like most everything else, it was never available.

The of the tennis courts and the empty indoor pool from my room

To be honest with you of the nine days I was in Afghanistan I might have had Afghan food at a handful of meals. These were mostly in situations where we were invited as a guest of Governor, Mayor or a Minister at their offices. When I told my family members in Kabul about my cravings for Afghan food they showed up the next night at my guest house (which I couldn’t leave at nights) with a platter of Qabili Palau, sabzi (spinach), potato and green onion bolani (Afghan stuffed flat bread), a jar of dough (Afghan yogurt drink), aloo bukhara (dried sour plums) jam and a large platter of oranges for dessert.

The guards were blown away and so were all the other guests at the hotel. My 12 Afghan family members descending on the hotel loaded down with food was quite a sight. We had a big party in the hall way. The staff were very excited and kept bringing us tea, juice and pastries so I can be a good host to my guests. I was very grateful to my family and friends who came and visited me in my guest house when I was sequestered due to security issues and threats of riots.

So, in honor of Afghan hospitality, I am sharing the Qabili Palau recipe again since this was the dish that was served at every single Afghan meal I consumed. I must admit (and forgive me my dear friends who cooked for me while I was in Afghanistan) that my mom’s Qabili Palau is significantly more delicious and flavorful than any of the ones I had in Afghanistan. Let’s all make Qabili Palau in the next few days as a celebration of a peaceful Afghanistan where I can go visit my family members freely, day and night.

Afghanistan’s National Dish

Qabili Palau

3 cups basmati rice

5 skinless chicken legs

5 skinless chicken thighs

2 large yellow onions, peeled and quartered

½ c plus 2 tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil, divided

5 tsp. salt

1 cup chicken broth

3 large carrots, peeled

1 cup black raisins

½ cup slivered almonds

3 tbsp. sugar

¾ cup water

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 ½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. ground black pepper

12 cups water

2 tsp. browning sauce such at Kitchen Bouquet (optional)*

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Immerse rice in a bowl of water and drain in a colander. Repeat this step 3 times.

Wash and dry the chicken. Set aside.

Chop the onions in a food processor using the pulse button. Don't puree the onions. You can do this by hand if you prefer.

Choose a sauté pan that is at least a couple inches deep and large enough to fit all the chicken. Pour ½ cup of the oil in the pan and sauté the onions over high heat, stirring quickly, until brown (5-10 minutes). Don't burn them. Add the chicken to the pan and sprinkle with 3 tsp. of the salt. Cook the chicken over medium-high heat for 6 minutes, turning from time to time so all sides turn golden brown. The onion will start to caramelize and turn into a thick sauce. Add 1/4 cup of the chicken broth, and continue stirring to keep the chicken from burning. Once the liquid has been absorbed, add another 1/4 cup of, bring it to a boil, cover with a lid or aluminum foil, and simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce should turn a dark brown. If your sauce does not take on a dark color you can add the Kitchen Bouquet to give it color.

While the chicken is cooking, cut the carrots into long matchsticks, about 4 inches long and 1/8-inch thick. Make sure that they are not too thin. In a large frying pan add ¾ cups of water and bring to a boil, add the carrots and cook until tender and a deep orange hue, 5 to 7 minutes. Keep a close eye on this to make sure you do not overcook them. Once the carrots are done, drain any leftover liquid out of the pan. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, raisins, almonds and sugar to the carrots. Stir quickly over medium-high heat and keep stirring for about 3 minutes. The raisins will look plump; the carrots will take on a nice sweet flavor. Remove from heat and package the carrots into a sealed aluminum foil pouch about the size of a small paperback novel.

Remove the chicken pieces from the broth and set aside. Stir the cumin, cardamom and black pepper into the broth. Continue to cook on low for 5 minutes to allow it to thicken.

Meanwhile, measure 12 cups of water and the remaining 2 tsp. of salt into a large Dutch oven or pot (see our Palau post for photos) with a fitted lid. Bring it to a boil. Add the rice to the water and boil until it is al dente (nearly cooked, though still slightly crunchy). This will take just a few minutes depending on the rice you use. You will have to taste it to check for doneness. Do not overcook it.

Immediately strain the rice through a colander. Put the rice back into its cooking pot and add the broth. Mix well. Arrange the chicken pieces on top of the rice. Set the aluminum package of carrots on top of the rice. This will keep the carrots warm and deepen the flavors without mixing with the rice yet.

Bake the rice for 15 minutes in 500 degrees then drop the temperature down to 250 degrees. Cook for another 20 minutes.

Arrange the chicken pieces on a large platter, cover with the rice. Sprinkle the carrots, raisins, and almonds on the rice. Serve with a simple salad.

01/05/2011

People always ask me, “What is Afghan food like? Is it like Indian food?” The answer is a resounding “No”.

As you can imagine, local ingredients, culture and religion all play a part in the development of a country’s cuisine. Afghan food has influences from many places including India, other Central Asian countries, Turkey and Italy. Afghan food is neither spicy, nor bland. It is a blend of perfectly balanced ingredients, lightly seasoned to highlight the best flavors.

Qabili Palau, also known as Kabuli Palau, is the quintessential Afghan dish served at parties, weddings and celebrations. Qabili is a gorgeous blend of rice, chicken, carrots, raisins and nuts for a crunch. Since it takes time to make Qabili, and it requires expensive ingredients such as meat and nuts, you will not find this dish on a Wednesday night family dinner menu. Every cook has her own way of cooking this dish. Jeja (my mom) doesn’t like to add nuts, while my sister Zohra adds almonds and pistachios. Our recipe here calls for slivered almonds; which adds a slight crunch without too much fuss. The countries of the middle world are home to many versions of this pilaf rice dish, but I must say that the Afghan Qabili Palau is the star of the bunch.

In our Afghan community, Jeja is well known for making the best rice dishes. So, she is very particular about the kind of rice she uses. Her requirements are that the rice must be strong enough to hold up to all the cooking, it must expand when soaked (a step we have skipped) and it should never stick or break . She is with rice like Kim Kardashian is with Hermes bags, only the latest and the best. We have taken Jeja’s recipe and simplified it so you can also enjoy this amazing dish with out spending hours in the kitchen. Qabili Palau is also made with lamb and beef. We have featured chicken in this recipe.

Afghanistan’s National Dish

Qabili Palau

3 cups basmati rice

5 skinless chicken legs

5 skinless chicken thighs

2 large yellow onions, peeled and quartered

½ c plus 2 tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil, divided

5 tsp. salt

1 cup chicken broth

3 large carrots, peeled

1 cup black raisins

½ cup slivered almonds

3 tbsp. sugar

¾ cup water

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 ½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. ground black pepper

12 cups water

2 tsp. browning sauce such at Kitchen Bouquet (optional)*

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Immerse rice in a bowl of water and drain in a colander. Repeat this step 3 times.

Wash and dry the chicken. Set aside.

Chop the onions in a food processor using the pulse button. Don't puree the onions. You can do this by hand if you prefer.

Choose a sauté pan that is at least a couple inches deep and large enough to fit all the chicken. Pour ½ cup of the oil in the pan and sauté the onions over high heat, stirring quickly, until brown (5-10 minutes). Don't burn them. Add the chicken to the pan and sprinkle with 3 tsp. of the salt. Cook the chicken over medium-high heat for 6 minutes, turning from time to time so all sides turn golden brown. The onion will start to caramelize and turn into a thick sauce. Add 1/4 cup of the chicken broth, and continue stirring to keep the chicken from burning. Once the liquid has been absorbed, add another 1/4 cup of, bring it to a boil, cover with a lid or aluminum foil, and simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce should turn a dark brown. If your sauce does not take on a dark color you can add the Kitchen Bouquet to give it color.

While the chicken is cooking, cut the carrots into long matchsticks, about 4 inches long and 1/8-inch thick. Make sure that they are not too thin. In a large frying pan add ¾ cups of water and bring to a boil, add the carrots and cook until tender and a deep orange hue, 5 to 7 minutes. Keep a close eye on this to make sure you do not overcook them. Once the carrots are done, drain any leftover liquid out of the pan. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, raisins, almonds and sugar to the carrots. Stir quickly over medium-high heat and keep stirring for about 3 minutes. The raisins will look plump; the carrots will take on a nice sweet flavor. Remove from heat and package the carrots into a sealed aluminum foil pouch about the size of a small paperback novel.

Remove the chicken pieces from the broth and set aside. Stir the cumin, cardamom and black pepper into the broth. Continue to cook on low for 5 minutes to allow it to thicken.

Meanwhile, measure 12 cups of water and the remaining 2 tsp. of salt into a large Dutch oven or pot (see our Palau post for photos) with a fitted lid. Bring it to a boil. Add the rice to the water and boil until it is al dente (nearly cooked, though still slightly crunchy). This will take just a few minutes depending on the rice you use. You will have to taste it to check for doneness. Do not overcook it.

Immediately strain the rice through a colander. Put the rice back into its cooking pot and add the broth. Mix well. Arrange the chicken pieces on top of the rice. Set the aluminum package of carrots on top of the rice. This will keep the carrots warm and deepen the flavors without mixing with the rice yet.

Bake the rice for 15 minutes in 500 degrees then drop the temperature down to 250 degrees. Cook for another 20 minutes.

Arrange the chicken pieces on a large platter, cover with the rice. Sprinkle the carrots, raisins, and almonds on the rice. Serve with a simple salad.

04/03/2010

My knowledge of Asian dumplings never expanded much beyond the doughy wontons I’ve been fishing out of brothy Chinese soup since I was a kid.I was enlightened recently by my friend, cookbook author and food blogger Andrea Nguyen (www.vietworldkitchen.comwww.asiandumplingtips.com) who shared the wisdom she gathered researching her latest book, Asian Dumplings.As I sat there listening to Andrea wax poetic about why she loves dumplings, “they just make people happy,” it hit me: Afghans have Asian dumplings of their very own.

And of course it makes sense that this Central Asian country located smack in the middle of the famed spice route would count dumplings amongst its culinary delights.I’m familiar with just two varieties of Afghan dumplings:aushak and mantoo, although there may be other regional varieties in Afghanistan.

My favorite of the dumplings is aushak.It’s made with a delicate dough and is traditionally filled with gandana, a member of the onion family with a mild flavor and an appearance similar to leeks.Although you can find gandana in some specialty markets, I substitute garden variety green onions.The dumplings are gently boiled and then topped with garlicky yogurt followed by paprika- and coriander-spiced meat sauce.Dried mint finishes the dish.

A lot of people are intimidated by the notion of making homemade dumplings, particularly when frozen ones are just a Trader Joe’s freezer section away.But making aushak by hand is both satisfying and fairly easy to do.And to be honest, as busy working mothers, both Humaira and I take a major short-cut:we use store-bought wonton wrappers in place of hand-made dumpling dough.In Afghanistan these dumplings are typically served on a big platter as a main course.Arranged four to a plate on your best china, aushak also makes an elegant first course.

Seems to me, dumplings are the sort of thing that should be made in community.Growing up in Afghanistan Humaira remembers large groups of extended family gathering for the sole purpose of making aushak.The festivities would conclude with everyone sitting down together over heaping platters of dumplings.I made them for dinner recently with the assistance of my very capable six-year old.We had enough left over for the kids’ lunches.I suspect mine were the only children at the lunch table dining on Afghan dumplings smothered in garlic yogurt sauce.

Afghan Dumplings

Aushak

4 tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. ground lamb (you can substitute beef or turkey)

1 cup tomato sauce

1 ½ tsp. paprika

1 ½ tsp. ground coriander

3 teaspoons Kosher salt, divided

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 lb. green onions, washed, stems removed

½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1 package won ton wrappers

1 tsp. vinegar

1 cup plain yogurt

½ teaspoon ground dried garlic

1 tbsp. dried mint

Saute the onion over medium heat in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil until tender and translucent.Add the garlic and sauté another minute.Add the lamb and sauté until cooked through, breaking it up like finely minced taco meat.Add the tomato sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, the paprika, coriander and pepper.Cook over low heat, stirring regularly for 20 minutes.

While the meat is cooking, finely chop the green onions (use the entire onion).A Cuisinart is useful for this step.Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the green onions, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the crushed red pepper.Turn heat to low and sauté until tender, 10 minutes.

To assemble the dumplings, fill a small bowl with water and put it at your work station.Set a won ton wrapper on your work surface and dip the tip of your finger in the water.Moisten the edges along two connecting sides of the wrapper.The water will serve as glue for the dumpling. Put about a teaspoon of green onions in the center of the wrapper. Fold the dough in half over the green onion in the shape of a triangle.Use the tip of your finger to firmly press the edges of the dough together to form a tight seal.Next, lift the two longest points of the triangle and press them together, creating a little circle over the dumpling.It will look like a fancy napkin fold (see photos below for clarity).

While you are assembling the dumplings, bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil.Add the vinegar.Once all of the dumplings are done, immerse them in the water and boil according to directions on the won ton package (about 4 minutes).While the dumplings are boiling ,quickly stir together the yogurt with the garlic and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt.

Gingerly scoop the cooked dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon, a few at a time, and arrange on a large platter.Spoon the yogurt over the dumplings and the ground meat on top of that. Sprinkle with dried mint and serve immediately.

Makes 25 dumplings.

here I'm pressing the edges of the dumpling firmly together to form a tight seal

here I'm bringing the two longest points of the triangle together and pinching them at the top like a fancy napkin fold

here you can see the water gently boiling after i've just added the first few dumplings

03/24/2010

This is the last of our slow cooker series recipe.We have really enjoyed experimenting with the recipes to make them slow cooker friendly.Your positive comments have encouraged us to do slow cooker recipes in the future.

Ever since starting this blog I find myself obsessively talking about Afghan food and recipes with any Afghan who happens to cross my path.In one of those sessions, my friend Yasmene mentioned that her aunt makes shohla, Afghan risotto, in a slow cooker.So, I thought we should give it a try too.

This dish is not most photogenic, but it tastes heavenly. Shohla e goshtee is definitely one of my favorite Afghan dishes.I remember on cold winter days when our cook would make shohla, and I would eat spoonful after spoonful until I couldn't move. It’s a warm, hearty dish, perfect for fall or winter dinners.

I have served this dish at my last few dinner parties and I must say it has been a big hit with the first timers as well as the scary crowd, Afghans.Serving Afghan food to my mom or other Afghan guests always makes me a little uneasy (they have many constructive “comments”).But I bit the bullet last November and when I did some of the cooking for my sister Nabila’s birthday party, which we hosted at my house. The menu consisted of numerous dishes and since I have only four burners on my stove, I made the shohla in the slow cooker. I didn’t have to worry about it burning or not being ready on time -- a dream for entertaining.

There are different kinds of shohla; some are sweet, others are savory.Shohla e goshtee is savory and like most savory shohlas it is cooked with meat and beans. Sweet shohlas such as rice pudding are usually served as dessert. I make my shohla e goshtee with boneless beef stew meat since my husband Jim hates to futz around with bones.You can also use lamb or choose a cut that does well slow cooked on the bone.Cooking the dish low and slow really brings out the flavors of the meat and adds rich dimension to the soft, chewy rice, mung beans, and split peas. I like to eat the shohla with a dollop of plain yogurt and a salad.

Afghan Risotto

Shohla e Goshtee

2 large yellow onions, peeled and quartered

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 lb. beef or lamb stewing meat, cut into medium chunks

1 cup dried mung beans, rinsed

1 tbsp. tomato sauce

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups beef broth

¼ cup yellow split peas

2 cups short-grain white rice, rinsed and drained in a colander

1 jalapeno pepper, stem removed, quartered and seeded

3 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper

2 ½ tsp. dried dill

¼ tsp. turmeric

6 cups water

Plain yogurt

Large oval or round slow cooker

Puree the onions and garlic in a food processor. Put the onion/garlic puree, meat, mung beans, tomato sauce, olive oil and beef broth into the slow cooker. Mix well and cook on low for 4 hours until the meat is cooked through and most of the liquid is absorbed. The sauce be aromatic and it will have a rich brown .

Add all the rest of the ingredients except the yogurt to the slow cooker. Stir thoroughly; continue to cook on low for 2 more hours. Cook until the meat is tender enough to easily cut with a fork and all the water is absorbed. If all the water is absorbed but the rice is still crunchy, add another cup of water, stir well, and cooks for another 15 minutes.Serve hot with a spoonful of plain yogurt.

01/13/2010

I have happy memories of Kabul winters:Snow fights, sledding off the garden wall on metal trays into our backyard, and best of all, no school.Unlike the rest of the year, in the winter my family shared all three meals together.Each meal seemed like a big event.We ate hearty soups, stews, casseroles and rice dishes such as aush, shohla, kitchree quroot and lawndee.They are filling, nourishing and warming.I loved all of these dishes but my favorite was lawndee palau, a rice delicacy made with salted and dried lamb, lamb jerky, if you will.

I can only guess that the practice of drying meat started when people were house bound in the winters with no refrigeration and no access to fresh meat.Even though we were able to move around Kabul in the winter, our family still practiced this tradition, as did many others.

In the fall when the weather started cooling off, perhaps late September or early October, my family would buy one or two slaughtered lambs.The lambs were brought to us by Agha Lala, the head farmer on our land in Ghazni, about a two-hour drive from Kabul.Agha Lala would butcher the lamb, always a big event at our house.No part of the lamb was wasted including the dumba, the fat in the rear of the lamb.This prized piece of lamb would be fried for lunch and we would savor each chewy, salty bite along with a piece of nan bread.Any leftover dumba would be rolled into the fresh dough of that day’s bread and baked.Once again we would enjoy the rich, fatty bites.

Once the lamb was butchered meat it would be thoroughly salted, pierced in the middle and strung up to dry using nylon rope.The meat would hang on the side of the house where it would get plenty of fall sun but was out of reach of neighborhood cats, our dog Rusty and other meat-loving creatures.After four to six weeks the meat would be dried and we would share some of it with family and neighbors as a special gift.The dried meat was kept in lidded containers and stored in the attic where it was cool, and dry.

Over the course of the winter months various delicacies would be made with this meat but the most popular was lawndee palau, a slow-cooked rice dish with raisins. We would squeeze oranges or lemons over the rice and meat to balance the richness and saltiness of the lamb.In our 30 years of residence in the US my mom, Jeja has not made lawndee palau.Perhaps at first it was because the dried meat was not available.But even now that lawndee is sold at most Afghan markets in the Bay Area, she still doesn’t make it.

So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that my aunt Khala Mayen was going to make lawndee palau during her visit over the holidays.I spent the better part of an afternoon with her, leaving my children and visiting in-laws to fend for themselves so that I could learn to make what was one of my favorite childhood dishes.She is famous for her lawndee palau.To insure best results she went so far as to haul her own cookware from her home in Orange County, pots large enough to bathe a toddler.

My aunt explained that the best lawndee should be completely dry and white in color as you see above.She didn’t trust the quality of the lawndee in the Bay Area so she brought meat from her own trusted source.

Below marks the process Khala Mayen took to make lawndee palau:

-She washed about 10 pounds of meat three times in cold water, and then soaked it overnight in a big pot.

-The next morning she rinsed 10 cups of long grain rice three times and soaked it in a large bowl.

-She soaked 2 cups of black raisins in warm water.

-She chopped two onions and sautéed them in ½ cup of vegetable oil.

-She drained the meat and then added it to the onion mixture along with enough water to cover the meat.After bringing it to a boil, she dropped the temperature to low and cooked it for an hour or so until it was soft and the liquid had reduced.She scooped off the fat from the top of the pot.

-Khala Mayen makes her own fried onions, which she uses generously in palau and other dishes.She added a few scoops of the onions and cooked the meat another 10-20 minutes until the sauce took on a deep brown color. She separated the meat and the sauce in two separate bowls.

-She boiled the rice until al dente and drained the water.She then returned the rice to the pot with the sauce from the cooked meat along with Jeja’s pre-mixed palau spices (coriander, black pepper, black and green cardamom) and a generous amount of salt.All the ingredients were mixed together until all the grains of rice were coated with the sauce.

-She piled the cooked meat on top of the rice.She topped all of this off with an additional cup of vegetable oil and an entire stick of butter (to which I gasped over the amount of fat).

-She wrapped the raisins in aluminum foil and placed them on top of the rice to cook along with the rice.

-She baked this giant pot of rice and meat in the oven at 500 degrees for 20 minutes and then baked it another 30 minutes at 250 degrees.

As the lawndee cooked a strong scent of lamb filled the kitchen.It’s a smell many Afghans savor, but it frankly overwhelmed my senses.This didn’t stop me from hovering nearby when my aunt pulled the pot from the oven.I wanted to take in the lovely sight of golden brown long rice kernels, the plump raisins and the flaky pieces of meat.Khala Mayen was worried that she didn’t make enough food but I assured her that she made enough to feed the whole neighborhood.

As she was putting the rice onto my mom’s unusually large serving platter, she kept worrying that the rice was too dry.Her daughters told me that normally oil drips from Khala Mayen’s lawndee palau that no orange or lemon juice could cut through that fat.I think secretly Khala Mayen blamed me for the lack of oil in this dish.

Everyone loved the lawndee palau.Our Iranian friend Sasha had three large servings and then promptly took a nap.I was surprised to find I didn’t enjoy the dish as much as I had remembered.Don’t get me wrong, I ate a plateful, and it was tasty, but the combination of the lamb scent and seeing the amount of oil and butter that went into the dish didn’t sit well with my Americanized sensibilities.

I have to admit that mastering Afghan rice was more challenging than expected.Handmade dumplings?No problem.Pumpkin turnovers with cilantro chutney?Piece of cake.But the rice kind of threw me.It’s not difficult.It just requires a few extra, methodical steps -- never my strong suit.

Each grain of rice should be independent from the next; never sticky.It should be lightly salted and gently flavored with cardamom.Although it’s tempting to serve Afghan dishes with ordinary steamed rice, making challaw is worth the effort.

Immerse the rice in a bowl of water.Drain.Repeat this step three times.Immerse the rice again in water and soak for 1 to 2 hours. Fill a medium (5 quart) pot with water and bring to a boil (if you use a pot that is too large, you won't get the desired result -- unless you are doubling or tripling the recipe).

Add the rice to the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes until it is al dente.There should be a slight crunch if you bite into the rice. Don't overcook it.

Scoop out 1/4 cup of the cooking water and set aside.Pour the rice into a colander to drain off the water.Quickly return the rice back to the pot. Add the ¼ cup of cooking water, oil, salt, and cardamom and stir thoroughly but gently so the rice doesn't break. Cover the pot with aluminum foil and set the lid on top of that.

Put the pot in the oven and cook for 10 minutes.Drop the heat to 250 degrees and cook for an additional 25 minutes.Serve on a large, shallow platter.

06/29/2009

Aush is responsible for my friendship with Katie.I took a big pot of Aush to a school potluck.Since it was an unfamiliar dish to many, I stood next to the pot of Aush and gave everyone instructions on the assembly, ingredients, and history.It was a great way to meet new parents, one of whom happened to be Katie. After two bowls of Aush, she asked me for the recipe.A bit of dilemma, there was no recipe.

Four years ago, I cooked like my Mom. I just put the ingredients together and cooked. I had heard that Katie is a “foodie” and a food writer. I was nervous about sharing any recipe with her.I made Aush several times and painstakingly wrote the ingredients and their measurements. In the mean time I received several emails from Katie asking about the recipe. Rest assured this recipe has been tested many times by both of us over the years.

Aush is one of my favorite Afghan dishes. It’s a hearty noodle soup with chickpeas, and red beans garnished with a ground beef sauce and a dollop of yogurt. According to Louis Dupree in his book Afghanistan, pasta was created in Central Asia which is now part of northern Afghanistan.Who would have thought?

Aush is my comfort food. I consider it a fall or winter dish but recently I came down with the flu and I craved Aush.It was perfect even in the summer; so I decided to share it with you.Our kids love it too.

We want to hear what you think about Aush.

Aush

We sometimes add a few handfuls of chopped spinach or swiss chard when the pasta is nearly cooked for extra color and nutrition.

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey can be a fine substitute

1 ½ tsp. ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper

2 tbsp. tomato paste mixed with 2 tbsp. hot water

7 oz uncooked spaghetti (doesn’t have to be exact)

10 cups chicken broth

1 15 oz. can kidney beans

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans

1 pint plain yogurt

Dried mint (optional

Instructions:

Saute the onion in olive oil in a non-stick frying pan on low heat until tender and golden.Add the garlic and sauté another 2 minutes.Add the ground beef and use a spoon to break it up as it cooks so it is loose and separated (like taco meat).Once the beef is browned add the coriander,

paprika, salt, pepper and tomato paste.Mix everything well and continue to cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.

While the meat is cooking, pour the chicken broth into a large pot and bring to a boil.Add the spaghetti and boil for 5 minutes.Empty the beans into a colander and rinse with water.Add the beans to the spaghetti and continue to cook until the pasta is done.

To assemble, put 2 ladles of noodles and broth and 2 spoonfuls of beef into a deep serving bowl.Finish with 1 or 2 spoonful of yogurt on top and sprinkle some dried mint.Give it a stir and eat.